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one of them, I’m sure I’d know. He’s gotten in over his head maybe, but I’m sure he hasn’t been ‘made’ yet.”
    â€œâ€˜Made’?” I asked.
    â€œWhen you join the Wolves, you don’t become a werewolf right away,” Marissa explained. “You’ve got to show your loyalty, and when Cedric thinks you’re ready, he bites you, and once he does, there’s no turning back. You’re a werewolf.”
    â€œDoes Marvin know about the skull?” I asked.
    â€œI never showed it to him.” Marissa began to pace as she thought about her brother. “Marvin has never liked Cedric—it doesn’t make sense that he’d want to join the Wolves. He’s got to be working some angle—trying to trick them into telling him their secrets, or trying to expose them, or something. Whatever it is, he can’t really be one of them.” I could see thatthe more she talked, the more she convinced herself she was right. “I know he helped steal your money…but I also know in my heart that I can trust him.”
    Well, I wasn’t about to tell her any different—after all, she loved her brother, whether he deserved that love or not.
    Grandma, on the other hand, spoke her mind plain and clear. “I don’t trust him as far as I could kick him, and neither should you. Trust doesn’t help you survive at a time like this.”
    But Marissa shook her head. “Trust is the
only
thing that helps you survive,” she said. The two of them stared each other down.
    â€œYou’re a foolish girl.”
    â€œAnd you’re a suspicious old woman!” Marissa said.
    â€œSo, we’ve got a little trust and a little suspicion,” I said, trying to referee before they got too angry at each other. “Maybe having both is a good thing.” I turned to Marissa. “Marvin doesn’t have to know everything you do, does he?”
    Marissa sighed and shook her head. That seemed to settle Grandma a bit. “The only ones I’ll trust are those hunters,” Grandma said.
    â€œWill you trust me, Grandma?” I asked.
    I couldn’t see her eyes behind her glasses, which had fogged up from the steam rising from her mug. “Of course, Red. Of course.”
    We stayed over at Grandma’s that night, since the moon was still full. Marissa told her parents she was staying with a friend, and mine were thrilled when I called to tell them I was spending some quality time with Grandma. When the sun rose, Marissa and I took the Avenue C bus, sitting silently together inthe back. Only after she rang the bell for her stop did she turn to me. “Last night was the third night of the full moon, so we won’t have to face any wolves until next month.”
    But I shook my head. “We’ll still have to face wolves,” I told her. “They’ll just be human ones.”
    â€œTrue enough.”
    I pounded my fist into my hand with such force my palm stung. A sudden fury raged in me that I couldn’t put down. “I could take on Cedric right now.”
    â€œYou gotta be patient,” Marissa said. “Being reckless right now will get you killed.”
    I opened my mouth to argue, but before I could, she closed her hand gently over my fist. Then she thought for a moment. “Live by your impulses, and you’ll be just like them. You’re better than that, aren’t you, Red?”
    I couldn’t answer her. Partly because I couldn’t stop staring at her hand on mine, but also because I didn’t know.
    When I got home, Dad was gone—he was on one of his twelve-hour shifts—but Mom was still getting ready to leave for the day.
    â€œIt was nice of you to stay over with Grandma last night,” she said. “She gets lonely in that house all by herself. You’re a good grandson, Red.”
    The biggest problem with my mom is she can read me like a
TV Guide
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